Redemption: Alchemy Series Book #4

by Augustine, Donna

  "No, it's fine. What's up?" I said, looking anywhere but at Cormac, who was looking only at me.

  "Just wanted to know if you worked out the scouting schedules yet?"

  "Yeah, I've got most of it done. It's on the table," I said, pointing to where Cormac still leaned. "You can let everyone know what the schedule is. I've got to go make a run and talk to Colleen. See you guys later." I would've run from the room if I thought I could've pulled it off without looking ridiculous. As it was, I was bordering on awkward with my fast walk.

  I didn't breathe right until I hit the stairwell and there were no footsteps behind me. I flew down the stairs, trying to put as much space between Cormac and me as I could.

  "Jo?" I didn't recognize the voice coming from behind me but I did remember the face when I turned. He wasn't overly handsome, with a very plain shade of brown hair but with enough scars running across his face to make him memorable. It was one of the wolves I didn't have much interaction with. He used to hang around with Rogo a lot, before he lost his head.

  I stopped to talk to him, not alarmed at all being alone with one wolf in the stairwell. I could take him down easily.

  "Yes?" I asked as I waited for him to speak.

  "I've been wanting to talk to you." I could hear the nervousness in his voice but that wasn't surprising. There were three categories of people these days. The ones that hated me but were still respectful, because they didn't want to get booted. The ones that feared me because nobody was really sure exactly what I was, and the ones that liked me. They were mostly changed and made up the smallest percentage.

  "What's up?"

  "I'd like to get in on some of the scouting rounds."

  Every creature immune to rippers wanted to be on scouting duty now. It was a license to steal. I didn't know what percentage I lost off the top but I'd accepted it as an unavoidable expense. I only had so many honest people and it was either take the loss or work the few good ones into the ground.

  "I'll think about it. Give Dark your name and room number when you see him. I'll figure out if we can use you on a run when I do the next schedule."

  I went to turn, considering our conversation over when he grabbed my arm.

  I looked down at the hand gripping my forearm and back to his face, sending a silent warning with my expression. He smartly snatched his hand back and quickly spoke in explanation. "I just had a couple of more questions."

  Maybe it was my annoyance at this wolf, or maybe it was my emotional turmoil about Cormac, but I didn't hear anyone come up behind me. I wasn't aware of the danger looming until I felt the pinch of the needle that sealed my fate.

  ***

  When I came to, my mouth was gagged, my legs were tied and my hands were bound behind my back. A strip of fabric blocked my vision. If that wasn't bad enough, I was cramped in what felt like a box. I couldn't stretch out my legs, and my knees were pressed against my chest as I lay on my side. The box swayed up and down with the carrier's steps. The slightest draft of air came through a crack, or maybe a hole they'd drilled. It was alarming and comforting at the same time. I wouldn't die from suffocation, but I might be in here a while.

  I could hear people, a lot of them. I didn't know how much time had passed, but maybe we hadn't left the casino yet.

  I tried to scream past the gag but it didn't work. So I started to roll from side to side in the little room I had and bang against the box as much as I could.

  "Go in there for a minute," I could hear a man's muffled voice say.

  I felt the air as soon as the cover was lifted and a pinch immediately followed.

  "I told you it wasn't enough. She could've totally screwed us." My head felt fuzzy and nausea threatened. I tried to breathe deeply through my nose. With a gag, throwing up could be deadly. Everything went black.

  When I woke again, some unknown time later, shivering, my blindfold had loosened just enough that I could see partially out of one eye. It would've been pitch black except for the fire burning outside where I lay, in a nylon tent. I saw glimpses of the flames whenever the flap of the entrance opened with a strong gust of wind. A full moon highlighted the snow around the shadow of four huddled bodies.

  I didn't need to test the binds on my ankles or wrists to know how tight they were. The rope burned where it dug into my flesh. I tried to pull magic, but whatever they had shot me up with clung like a lead balloon to my consciousness, making it a fight to even remain awake. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't muster up even a wisp.

  "Are you sure this was the best way?" I heard one of them say. It sounded like the wolf that had stopped me in the hallway.

  I just wanted to lie there in the drug-induced oblivion, but I had to concentrate.

  "It was only a matter of time before she figured out who we are," another one said.

  Who they were? I knew it was the wolves.

  "How? We could have stayed there forever. She might not ever have known," the first wolf replied.

  "If she didn't figure it out, the senator would've told her. We're better off with him, anyway. When he attacks, you know he's going to win. The freaks he's got over there? It's going to be a bloodbath. No, delivering her to the senator in exchange for protection was the right thing to do."

  "Maybe that was a bluff to get us to do this?" One of the other two finally spoke. "Other than us, there's no one left that was there that night."

  "It doesn't matter," the final silhouette said. "Either way we'd be sitting ducks. She would've figured it out. She's weird. She knew I was watching her even though there was absolutely no way she should've. Who knows what shit she can do."

  "Yeah, he's right. Once she knew we were the ones that killed her mother, there'd be no turning back."

  Even dazed as I was, the anger roiled off me, cutting through the haze that clung to my mind.

  "Shit!" A flap opened and I could see the mist starting to gather around me, signaling the magic starting to gather.

  "Get the needle, quick!" They scrambled as I focused on the anger I felt, using the adrenaline to help clear my thoughts. These were the people that robbed me of a mother. Now they were packaging me up and handing me over to the senator?

  But before I could do anything, the pinch of the needle and the heaviness of the drugs seized my revenge from me.

  "Did you smell the anger coming off of her?"

  Shit, I thought as I faded. That's how they'd known I was coming around. They'd smelled it. Where was a ripper when you needed one?

  "Give her another, just in case."

  I felt another pinch and wondered if I'd ever wake up.

  ***

  I heard shuffling noises near my head.

  "If we keep drugging her, we might kill her."

  Rough hands turned me on my side.

  "We're only doing what the senator asked."

  "But what about the rumor? You know…the rumor."

  "We're dead either way, if we don't get her to him. Does it matter how we go?"

  More feet moved near my head. I felt a tug on my scalp as a foot stepped on my hair.

  "And we can't get past the check points. We don't have a choice."

  I wanted to open my eyes but I couldn't get them to lift. I couldn't get anything to move, my limbs felt like they weighed a hundred pounds each and my tongue was swollen in my mouth from dehydration. The nausea roiled through me from the drugs and I started violently dry heaving before they stole my consciousness again.

  Crazy drug induced nightmares filled my mind with screaming, crying and blood spraying everywhere. Limbs flew, leaving puddles of red in their wake. I dreamt of the rippers and they were making screeching noises that pierced my eardrums; then everything went silent.

  I awoke to pain ripping across my face. I thought it was going to be them, the wolves who'd abducted me, but it was Cormac, a piece of duct tape in his hand.

  I tried to speak but my mouth was painfully dry and he held a water bottle to my lips for a moment before he reached behind me
to cut the binds. I squinted past the light and tried to focus clearly beyond a few feet in front of me.

  "What..." I didn't know what to say as I looked around. There was blood everywhere, like in my nightmare. Bodies, or pieces of them anyway, strewn across the ground. An arm lay not two feet away from my head inside the tent and I felt myself start to shake from shock.

  It wasn't like my nightmare. It was my nightmare exactly.

  I could see through the torn tent flaps to where Buzz and Dark looked to be examining pieces of carcasses scattered in the snow. They walked from piece to piece in the stained snow that was various shades of blood red to pink. They both turned and nodded at me as they continued about the area.

  Cormac went around to my feet as I pulled my free wrists in front of me and rubbed them. I looked down to where he was trying to cut away blood-encrusted rope from my ankles. It was my blood this time, caked into where the rope dug into my skin.

  Cormac looked behind him to where Dark and Dodd were a good distance away, then back to me. "Do you remember any of it?" His voice was soft, not like he was particularly looking to keep the question quiet but wasn't looking to broadcast it either.

  "Just remnants." And that was enough.

  My hands shook as I tried to raise the water bottle he'd left by my side to my mouth.

  He came around and steadied my hand. "Do you remember how you did it?"

  "I don't think I did."

  I let him take the bottle when I would have chugged it.

  "They didn't do it for food. The bodies are torn apart but all the torsos and heads are there." He kneeled by my side. "They didn't do this on their own." His eyes were saying more and I didn't like any of it.

  "I was knocked out. How could I have ordered it?"

  I started shaking in earnest then and made a futile attempt to get to my feet but I could barely get to my knees.

  "How long was I out for?"

  "Three days." He reached down and picked me up.

  "I'm filthy," I said, embarrassed that he was seeing me, let alone touching me.

  He didn't let go but held me closer to him.

  "Did they feed you or give you water at all?"

  I shook my head. "I don't think so."

  "They could've killed you." There was constrained rage in his voice.

  "How did you find me?" I rested my head on his shoulder, exhausted in spite of not being awake for days.

  "We didn't. The rippers found us and led us here."

  We walked out of the tent, me in Cormac's arms. I tried to look at Buzz and Dark, but I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open in the glaring light.

  "Did you ID them?" he asked as he walked toward the truck that was waiting close by.

  "Yeah, what should we do with the bodies?" Buzz asked.

  "Leave them for the vultures to pick at their bones. Whatever doesn’t get eaten can lie here rotting. Let's go."

  He climbed in to the backseat, me still in tow. He reached for a thick blanket on the seat next to us and tucked it in around me.

  I fell asleep before Buzz and Dark even got back in the truck.

  ***

  "There you are."

  I was surrounded by warmth as a towel ran up and down my arm. Opening my eyes, I saw Cormac lean over me as I reclined in a bath of hot water. An empty IV bag hung in the corner.

  "Trying to rehydrate you while you were sleeping. The drugs are still working out of your system. You were pretty pumped up with them so it might take a while to feel normal." His hand dropped the towel in the water again.

  "Did anyone see me?" It wasn't vanity that concerned me, I'd spent months asserting myself over a crowd that didn't take to authority. I didn't want them to see me looking weak.

  "I brought you in through a back entrance while Dark and Dodd created a diversion at the front."

  His eyes roved over my body and instead of being uncomfortable or pushing him away, I met his eyes with a look of my own.

  One hand slipped behind my head as he lowered his lips to mine. When I thought it would go further, he pulled back.

  "What do you remember?"

  I leaned my head back on the rim of the tub. I replayed all the memories up until they showed up.

  His hand ran over my head, pushing the hair out of my face while he waited patiently for me to finish.

  "I thought it was a dream. I heard the screaming and the crying but I didn't think it was real."

  "Do you remember trying to call the rippers to you?"

  "I told you, I don't think I did. I was out of my mind with the drugs."

  "Cormac?" It was Dodd's voice from the living room.

  "I'll be right there. You okay?" he asked as he stood from his squatting position by the bath.

  "Yes."

  "I'll be back in a few minutes."

  I watched as he headed toward the door and the memories replayed in my mind.

  "Cormac?"

  He turned and paused, one foot out of the bathroom.

  "We need to call a castle meeting. It's coming. They need to know."

  His hand gripped the door and his face lost all the tenderness that was there a moment ago.

  "I agree. They do."

  Chapter Fourteen

  Just a Small Affair

  The meeting signs had been posted for that night, at my insistence. Cormac had argued that I should give myself another day to get on my feet but I couldn't. Now that I knew it was happening, and probably sooner than I had expected, I just needed to tell them. As if until I spoke the words out loud, and to everyone, they would chew away at what was left of my sanity.

  The senator is coming. Everyone had been waiting for it. It wouldn't be a surprise but I still needed to say it for everyone to hear.

  I walked with purpose and a heavy step as I entered the great hall. All heads turned to me and it looked like every single person in residence had shown, crammed into the room and overflowing into the nearby hallways. They knew. Maybe they weren't sure, but they suspected. I guess, on some level, we'd all been waiting for this moment.

  Without thought, I scanned the room for Cormac. He stood next to the small platform I'd asked him to erect. Being short, I wanted to make sure I could see everyone's faces, and they could see mine when I told them. I wanted to be able to look them in the eye. They deserved that.

  Everyone parted as I made my way over and stepped up on the platform. The crowd, eager to know what news caused such an unusual gathering, immediately hushed.

  "Thank you for coming." I scanned the hall, taking in all the faces. I knew all of them, even if I didn't recall every name. There was nothing but furrowed brows and concerned expressions, and again, I felt the weight of the news pressing down upon me. I was suddenly afraid I wouldn't be able to say what I needed to.

  Maybe I should have had Cormac tell them, but they deserved to hear it from me. Most didn't care for me anyway, which was why I was the best person to deliver the news. They already hated the messenger, no more harm done.

  "I know most of you have heard of the senator." A murmur ripped through the crowd, and I ignored it. "There have been rumors of a war coming." The crowd grew restless at that and I took a deep breath, and plunged in before I lost them, and my nerve. "That war is now imminent."

  The crowd instantly erupted. Questions were screamed, everyone vying to be heard over their neighbor until no one was audible. Cormac edged in a hair closer on one side and Dark on my other, waiting for the crowd to lose control. I could see by their positions, they were preparing for trouble. That's when I noticed the strategic positions of the other Keepers in the room. They were slowly moving in closer to the platform and me. They thought it could turn violent, that was how fierce the energy was.

  "People!" I shouted, hoping all the non-humans wouldn't take that as an insult. "Please, calm down!" I needed to get them under control. All it took was one to lose control and all hell could break loose.

  Then I saw Burrom off in the back corner. He was star
ing at me like I should be doing something. But what?

  He lifted a hand and waved his finger around as if swirling it in an invisible stew.

  Maybe not so invisible.

  I raised my hands as if to nonverbally ask the crowd to calm down, but that wasn't what I was doing at all. More than half of the occupants in the room were magical beings. As such, they emitted magical energy. If I could pull the angry energy of the room into myself, perhaps I could avert a mob scene.

  Slowly, I felt it trickle to me. Gradually, the noise in the room dropped a hair. This would work. I steadily pulled more and the crowd calmed more.

  I just needed to channel it somewhere. That was the trick. I'd held too much of it last time and needed to divert it out into something else.

  I noticed Burrom approaching along the side of the room where Dark stood. What was he doing? He passed by Dark and behind the podium set up in front of me and grabbed my hand. I looked quickly at him and he nodded.

  "It could kill you," I said, but I knew I had to do something quick. The colors of the magic were starting to shimmer in the air, only visible to me, as they had last time right before I'd overloaded.

  "Do it."

  I felt my other hand being grabbed and realized Cormac had taken it. I hadn't realized he'd even been aware of what was going on.

  Cormac squeezed my hand. He still wasn't looking at me but keeping his eye on the crowd. "Split it between us."

  I let the power flow through me and felt them both tense at the onslaught of pure magical energy pulsing into them. I broke contact as soon as I felt the pressure subside from me and the colors dim. It was just enough to get me out of the danger zone, I hoped.

  Cormac turned, eyed me skeptically and tried to grab my hand again.

  "No."

  "Yes," he said and grabbed my hand but to no use. I'd shut down the connection and he wasn't strong enough to pull it from me if I wasn't willing to give it.

  The crowd hushed enough for me to hear a woman call out a single question. "When?"

  And silence fell as that was probably the most important question at hand.